Fever pitch

Q: The company has shows impressive growth in a short span of time. Can you give us a quick scan of things on your agenda?

We went public in 2008 June and raised Dh250m and began selling our first policy in January 2009. In the past three years we have more than 100,000 members. In November last year we got approval for life insurance. So we now sell health, life and accident risk cover insurance.

We are all looking for compulsory health insurance in Dubai.

We feel that when all the 2010 figures are published, we will have moved up to among the top five. Those top five will probably account for more than 80 per cent of the market.

Q: But you have reported losses…

Our loss ratios are improving dramatically and our expenses as a percentage of revenue are coming down dramatically because of the growth. So, we are looking to this year-end or early next year to reach break-even.

It is interesting to note that when we did the projection before the crash, the average premium was around Dh 2,500. Because of the downturn and the intense competition that is probably on an average 25 per cent low.

Q: How is competition heating up?

There are more than 50 insurers in the UAE and about 30 of them provide health insurance. All of them, with the exception of Daman, are general insurance companies so there is a concentration.